revolver bullets----v

[RjSixgun]

That's pretty much why I was thinking about opening up a round ball mold!
it would be the same height and width as a round ball but would be a conical....picture a round ball with a flat base or like a half bullet half ball.
my theory is it would have more bearing surface and weight without increasing the length or diameter. drilling out the sprue hole only, until its the diameter of the ball or slightly less for a healed bullet/ball

 

[Eras Gone]

Another option are historically accurate bullets. They have a rebated heal which make them very easy to load nice and square.

 

[Desperate Lee]

Thats pretty much the thinking behind Omni's ballettes. They are made from round balls so they are pretty much the same length as a round ball. Want heavier bullets for your 45, use 50 cal or 54 cal swaged down, for those that dont cast like myself. I got the press now, got dies, just need a better bench. My present bench is good enough for my rifle and pistol loading but not for swaging.

 

[rodwha]

Only one thing about bullets in a BP revolver is they take up powder space. I hunt deer with mine and want more so I stick to a RB. But for target you might be better off. Keep us posted.

I also am a hunter and know that a wide meplat creates a larger wound cavity and the additional mass provides greater penetration. But then I’m also dealing with hogs.

 

[rodwha]

Another option are historically accurate bullets. They have a rebated heal which make them very easy to load nice and square.

An excellent bullet if you are looking for authenticity, but not so good if you intend to hunt with it, which seems to be why the Civil War vets that Elmer knew said a ball took the fight out of a man much better than the conicals.

 

[bang]

.456. Maybe in a walker. Possibly dragoon or ROA. Most anything else .454. Other issue is alignment to center. Likely best with bench press and fitted centering jag.

 

[Desperate Lee]

RJsixgun
Here are some photos of what i use in my ASP 58 Remmies. Left to right:
.454 Hornady .45 rb, .490 Hornady .50 rb, .452 ballette, .452 200 grn Hornady SWC, .452 230 grn Hornady LRN. The only thing the bullets are missing is the base taper i put on them to fit my Remmies. The ballette is made from the .490 round ball in one swage thru my Lee .452 sizing die. The .454 ball, the ballette, and the 200 grn SWC fit under my ram with no modifications. In order to load straight though the bullets need a tapered base.
The ballette is what you wanted from your mold modification. I did 16 of these and they measure right at .452 and weigh from 179.9 to 179.2 grns
average. My chambers are .449 to .450 on both Remmies. Will have plenty of bearing surface so i may size to .451 instead. Good luck on your project. These should ring hell out of a gong. The ballette is .460 long, the 200 grn SWC is .580 long, and the 230 grn LRN is .650 long. I may just use the longer bullets in my custom single shot i built. Its barrel is .448 to .449 dia.

 

[tom berwinkle]

Now as said earlier, Omnivore on the 58 Forum has done quite a bit of experimenting here. Since you cant find ballettes anymore he came up with a way to swage .45 cal and .50 cal round balls to make ballettes and he sent me a couple dozen to try. They look good but have not had a chance to fire them yet. Check out his posts on the process.

Lee; Are balletts no longer being made? Used to use them back in the 90s I think. They shot pretty good, the only drawback for me was the bullet lube dried out soon after you opened the box. Some one told me that Dixie still had them in their catalog. I guess they were but discontinued soon after. I used them both calibers. I had some pretty good results with them.I guess I will try and see what Omnivore could sell me some. Thanks.......Tom

 

[bisleyjohn]

Which mould is that please? And would a bullet be more accurate? I have only shot round ball in both of my ROA and wonder if I can knock a couple of inches off my woefully large group size. (I don’t hunt) I fully accept that the nut behind the butt is the loosest

 

[Desperate Lee]

Rjsixgun was talking about opening one end of his round ball mold to make some ballette type bullets. I dont cast so for me this is an easier way. I have not seen ballettes for sale for a while. For my 50 CVA Mountain pistol i have some 240 grn PA Conicals i plan on trying, but the 45's are far experimenting with. Thoughts?

 

[Desperate Lee]

If you "Google" the "1858 Remington Forum" then go to "Projectiles" you will see some good stuff on lead bullets.

 

[Desperate Lee]

RjSixgun found this on another forum. Just what you wanted i do believe.
Turbo1889
Bullet master
Based on my experience if you want a ballett mold that will work as intended for a muzzle loader with a slow twist rifling that is loaded naked without a patch and engraves in the rifling this is how to make the mold:

Where:

G = The major groove diameter of your gun. Tolerances should be on the negative side for ease of loading with a fowled bore.
B = The minor bore diameter of your gun. Tolerances should be either on the plus side or split equally. You want the heal to be a snug press fit in the muzzle but you don't want it so tight you can't press it into the muzzle with just thumb pressure.

Use a snug fitting thick felt/fiber wad impregnated with lube between the top of the powder and the ballett to provide the lube and keep fowling soft and cast the ballets out of dead soft pure lead and they work great if properly dimensioned to fit the gun.

 

[nkbj]

This is set up for the Pietta chambers .36 caliber with bullets that are adjustable to up past 150 grains. This is a means of fitting bullets to the revolver rather than fixing the undersized chamber diameter.

 

[nkbj]

 

[nkbj]

Notes about altering molds and using bullets made this way:
The cylindrical portion slips into the chamber before you rotate it under the ram. That way the clearance on the frame doesn't matter.

The cylindrical portion can be rubbed with a waxy lube when loaded.

The sides have gotten full rifling engagement in Pietta Colts and Remingtons.

The .44's built on 1851 style frames do not have enough clearance to slip the bullets in the chambers before rotating under the ram.

The first through hole line up on the ball cavity has to come from the cavity itself. Then the enlargement of the hole for the cylindrical portion of the bullet goes through from the other side (bottom of the blocks).

For .44's it can be easier to just get a sizing die to reduce the back end of bullets from .45 pistol molds, being careful during sizing to leave the front band large enough to shear on the mouth of the chamber. This works for Pietta Remington 1858's. Also for Walkers and Dragoons.

 

[nkbj]

One of the things about Pietta I've come to appreciate is that their 1858 .36 caliber is just a .44 without the steel machined away, which makes it a great opportunity to have a .41

to use all those great bullet molds from various manufacturers.
Here's a Lee SWC and a couple of almost ancient designs from Lymans with the rear bands sized to slip into the chambers and the front bands left large to shear on the chamber mouths.

They all work great. The wadcutter in the middle is a splatter bullet and doesn't penetrate a whole lot.
Got the old 240 grain round nose from Lee and 210 round nose from NEI around here somewhere.

The same thing could be done to use .43 caliber molds but they're mostly all just SWC's.

 

[45man]

I have to tell about a bullet. I have the Old Army Ruger left that takes a .457" ball. A friend gave me a pile of .45 ACP bullets and they shot great. I made a mold a little larger to fit better and they also shoot super in a 1911.
Yet I have a mold built for the OA that does not. I do not know why. Everyone with a 1911 wants to use my BP mold.
My friend Joe watches hours and hours of You Tube and we argue about getting the sphincter so tight it forms bullets. All the ball fit and patches needed are just to slide stuff in the bore easy, then watch a flinter fire with a huge delay.
The net is evil like loading water dropped WW balls in a ML. NOT! Chain fires are from gap gas getting past a ball or bullet--NOT!
Your single shot ML pistol is the same as a rifle except it will not burn all the powder if too much, but you load the same.

 

[45man]

I have posted before about the Remington C&B with bullets. Chambers are very close and the next is so close that gap pressure will eat the nose from a bullet. What harm it does to accuracy I don't know exactly. But a RB in the Remington sure does better.

 

[rodwha]

Omnivore on another forum found that you cannot load projectiles to the mouth face as the bullets get gas cut. He figured out a depth to seat to and it wasn’t much (1/16”?).

 

[Bad Karma]

RJsixgun
Here are some photos of what i use in my ASP 58 Remmies. Left to right:
.454 Hornady .45 rb, .490 Hornady .50 rb, .452 ballette, .452 200 grn Hornady SWC, .452 230 grn Hornady LRN. The only thing the bullets are missing is the base taper i put on them to fit my Remmies. The ballette is made from the .490 round ball in one swage thru my Lee .452 sizing die. The .454 ball, the ballette, and the 200 grn SWC fit under my ram with no modifications. In order to load straight though the bullets need a tapered base.
The ballette is what you wanted from your mold modification. I did 16 of these and they measure right at .452 and weigh from 179.9 to 179.2 grns
average. My chambers are .449 to .450 on both Remmies. Will have plenty of bearing surface so i may size to .451 instead. Good luck on your project. These should ring hell out of a gong. The ballette is .460 long, the 200 grn SWC is .580 long, and the 230 grn LRN is .650 long. I may just use the longer bullets in my custom single shot i built. Its barrel is .448 to .449 dia.

Good morning Marine, how’s that po po shooting?

WRT the sizing of the .490 ball. What kind of press and how much pressure are you using? My rockchucker is mounted on my son’s reloading bench and I fear it’s permanent. I do have an old lee hand press, do you think it’s up to the job?